The Times March 2009

Transcription

1 The Times March 2009 A journal of transport timetable history and analysis Inside: Brisbane as it was How shopping centres influence timetables The Archbishop of Bradshaw RRP $2.95 Incl. GST

2 The Times Journal of the Australian Association of Time Table Collectors Inc. (A H) Print Publication No: /00070, ISSN March 2009 Issue No. 300, Vol 26 No. 03 LETTER STOCKTON-DARLINGTON COAL TRAFFIC 3 NORTH AND WESTERN TO MACQUARIE CENTRE 4 NOW & THEN 12 UNUSUAL METHODS OF OBTAINING TIMETABLES 16 LETTER- EAST PARRAMATTA BUS SERVICES 19 A MASTER OF PRECISION 19 This is the 300th issue of The Times. In the first issue, the following item by Jack McLean: We hope this magazine will give you a better idea of what we hope to achieve. Albert and I came up with the same name for the magazine from different directions The Times. If anyone has a better idea, let us know. But a lot of decisions may have to be made in a rather undemocratic manner because the members are spread all over the atlas like small pox. We suppose that the magazine will come out every two months which enables the Editor to come up for air, and for that matter for the writers to come up for ink. Will you please think about writing a short article for The Times perhaps some observation you might want to make about something in your collection. It seems to have worked out O.K. since then. Contents On the front cover It is 40 years since the Brisbane trams were put to the torch. In this issue, Hilaire Fraser casts his eye over the Brisbane world of the 1960s. The photos on the cover and in Hilaire s article have been downloaded from some taken by Red and Cream in 1960 and more can be found on the Australian Transport Discussion Board Contributors Derek Scrafton, Victor Isaacs, Jim O Neil, Hilaire Fraser, Ian Jack, Frazer Wright, Ken Butt, Geoff Lambert The Times welcomes articles and letters. Send paper manuscripts or word-processor files on disk or via to the editor at the address below. Illustrations should be submitted as clean sharp photocopies on white paper or scanned GIF or TIF format images with at least 300 dpi resolution on disk or via . Reproduction Material appearing in The Times or Table Talk may be reproduced in other publications, if acknowledgment is made. Disclaimer Opinions expressed in The Times are not necessarily those of the Association or its members. We welcome a broad range of views on timetabling matters. The Times on-line AATTC's home page: has colour PDF versions of The Times President Victor Isaacs 43 Lowanna Street BRADDON ACT 2612 (02) Secretary Geoff Lambert 179 Sydney Rd FAIRLIGHT NSW 2094 & Editor, The Times G.Lambert@unsw.edu.au (02) Editors, Table Talk Geoff Mann 19 Rix St GLEN IRIS VIC 3146 geoffwm@bigpond.com.au Victor Isaacs 43 Lowanna Street BRADDON ACT 2612 (02) Treasurer Len Regan PO Box 576 KOTARA NSW 2289 (02) & Distribution Officer tp@hunterlink.net.au Membership Officer Dennis McLean P.O. Box 734 NUNDAH, QLD, 4012 (07) Webmaster Lourie Smit lsmit@oz .com.au (02) Adelaide Convenor Roger Wheaton 2C Bakewell Street, TUSMORE SA 5065 (08) Canberra Convenor Ian Cooper GPO Box 1533 CANBERRA ACT 2601 (02) Brisbane Convenor Brian Webber 8 Coachwood St KEPERA Qld 4054 (07) Melbourne Convenor Stephen Ward 12/1219 Centre Rd SOUTH OAKLEIGH VIC 3167 (03) Sydney Convenor Geoffrey Clifton GPO Box 1963 SYDNEY NSW The Times March 2009

3 Stockton-Darlington coal traffic DEREK SCRAFTON was there Letter G eoff, Thanks for your article on Coal Trains in the January 2009 Times, and its wide geographic coverage. Permit me to make a couple of observations relating to the Stockton & Darlington. The coalfield served by the S&D was the SW Durham coalfield, not the Yorkshire coalfield, the northern edge of which is some 50 miles to the south. None of the Goods trains shown in the WTT on p.3 would be coal trains. The NER/LNER described coal trains under the Minerals heading (Class C & D) in the WTT, when they appeared at all in the timetable. Most of the Goods trains in your example originated at depots and yards on the ECML: Newcastle (Heaton, Forth, Park Lane), Thirsk and York (Dringhouses). The WTT that best shows trains on the S&D is that between Darlington and Bishop Auckland. However, even then most of the coal trains would not be shown, as it was practice to dispatch them locally ( mineral leading ). By the start of the 20th century, when the SW Durham coalfield was at its peak of production, most coal was dispatched from the Shildon yards via the Simpasture Branch, the former Clarence Railway, built as a competitor to the S&D but held captive by the latter at either end of the coal trains journeys to the Teesmouth industrial area. Once both railways became part of the NER the Simpasture line handled most of the coal trains, and indeed was electrified for that purpose by the NER in An excellent reference is Appleby KC: Shildon-Newport in Retrospect (RCTS, 1990). I hope you don t think these comments are nit-picking. I was born in Darlington, about a mile from the bridge in the drawing on p. 3, and its railways are in my family s blood! I sometimes catch a bus on a Sunday morning from a stop that gives a good view of that bridge, which still carries the local d.m.u. trains from Bishop Auckland to Darlington and Saltburn, successors to those in the WTT timetable you used. The land on which the Locomotion outpost of the NRM at Shildon is built was once part of the Shildon yards where coal trains were made up (I think on the empties side). Every good wish, Derek. The Times March

4 North & Western to Macquarie Centre JIM O NEIL T he opening of a new shopping centre, away from the old suburban centres and the railway lines, required changes to the bus routes operating in the area, since the buses had not served what had been a greenfields site up to then, or had provided only limited service to the area. We have seen how the opening of the Roselands shopping centre had changed the routes of the Punchbowl Bus Co. and others operating in that general area. A similar set of changes occurred to the buses operating in the North Ryde area. Most buses had operated to the south of the new shopping centre, along the Epping Highway or further south, although several ran a long block north along Waterloo Road and only needed to be diverted a further block north along Herring Road to the new centre. In this article I shall be examining the changes made to the services of North & Western Bus Lines to provide service to Macquarie Centre. The first route to be looked at is the route 43, which ran between Chatswood and West Ryde stations, travelling from Chatswood via Mowbray Road West, the route of the old 128, which we looked at in April The timetable in force when the Macquarie Centre was opened in 1981 had been issued in September 1980 (on these two pages). The basic service of the 43 was between the two stations ran every half hour, at 10 and 40 past the hour in the off-peak, with alternate buses in the offpeak running via Epping Highway, Lane Cove and Cox s Roads, marked EC in the timetable. This covered the northern section of the route 205, which we will examine below. There were more frequent buses in the peak hour, mostly running direct via Wick s Road. Additional buses ran from Chatswood to the Mars Road Industrial Area and one, at 3.40 in School Terms only, to Moore Street and Epping Road in Lane Cove West. Buses to Macquarie University were no longer included in the main route 43 timetable, but were shown in a special table on the reverse side. The map shows that these buses did not run via Edmonson and Ryrie Streets, as the West Ryde buses did, but direct via the Epping Highway. They hardly provided a useful service for University students, as the three buses from Macquarie left only from Epping Highway and Herring Road (marked HR) and ran in the morning peak hour. Two morning peak buses leaving from Chatswood at 7.51 and 8.22 did run to the University, getting there before classes started at nine o clock, while the evening services from Chatswood were also HR and no service was provided back from the University. Basically these diversions of the 43 would service passengers in North Ryde working in or near Chatswood. It seems that North & Western had left service between Chatswood and Macquarie University to Deane s Coaches route 54. The route 43 also ran half-hourly on Saturday mornings, with alternative buses via Epping and Lane Cove Roads, and hourly on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and Public Holidays, direct via Wick s Road only. There was a special timetable on Easter Saturdays, with morning service at somewhat better than hourly frequency. Who would remember a non-clock face timetable useful on only one day of the year? On Monday 16 November 1981, a new timetable was issued for route 43 services to Macquarie Centre and Macquarie University only (see page 6), with the old timetable remaining in force for the West Ryde and other services. Two new runs, the 42 and 43, provided all the services, apart from a few Late Shopping Night buses run by shift 37. The morning peak buses at 6.56, 7.19 and 7.50 still ran, but now from the University itself and operated by runs 42 and 43, not the shifts listed in The 7.51 and 8.22 departures from Chatswood still ran and the two shifts then provided half hourly service from Chatswood at 25 and 55 minutes past the hour, midway between the 10 and 40 past buses to West Ryde. The new services ran half hourly to the shopping centre, but only in 4 The Times March 2009

5 peak hours to the University. Saturday service ran half hourly in the mornings and hourly in the afternoons, when the buses ran via Edmonson Street and Blenheim Road (marked eb), providing two services an hour to and from Chatswood from this area, which only had hourly service on Saturday afternoons on the old timetable. There was no service on Sundays and Public Holidays to Macquarie Centre. This extension of the route 43 did not prove viable. The next timetable for the route 43, issued on Monday 19 November 1984, provided a limited service to Macquarie, roughly comparable to that of the 1980 timetable but with a 4.08 departure from Chatswood added. This had been cancelled by 1986, by which time North & Western had taken over the route 54 from Deane s Coaches and all service from the Macquarie area to and from Chatswood was provided via Fuller s Bridge and not Mowbray Road. The West Ryde services of the 43 were renumbered 534 and 535 in At the start of 1981 the route 75 ran from Gladesville to Clarence Street and Pittwater Road, North Ryde, just south of the Epping Highway, operating via Higginbotham and Cressy Roads and Sagar Place East Ryde. As we can see on the map this was a roundabout route, suited for local passengers only. The first timetable shown here was issued on Monday 21 June The basic service was provided by shift 1, which ran in the peak hours and the morning off-peak, more often than a bus every hour. There were no afternoon offpeak services between p.m. and One service in each peak hour ran to and from the A.W.A. Factory and North Ryde Industrial Area, running both to and from Gladesville in both peaks. Most of the additional peak hour buses were school term only, marked B, and ran to school such as Malvina High (M) and Marist Girl s College, Woolwich (MG). There was also a Saturday morning service, not shown on this side of the timetable. The next timetable (see page 7) was issued Tuesday 17 November The basic route had changed to Pittwater Rd. and Thompson St., instead of along Victoria Road to Monash Road, where the government buses enjoyed a monopoly. All buses ran in both directions along Cressy Road and then Blenheim Road, turning into Edmonson Street along the route of the 43, then north along Wicks, Waterloo and Herring Roads to Macquarie Centre. Two shifts, the 1 and the 27 were required to provide service every half hour and this service continues in the afternoons. We still find school buses to Malvina High (now marked Ma) and Marist Girls (MG). M is now used for certain evening peak services running along the old route down Monash Road. T means Thursday night service only and NT marks the 6.10 p.m. service operated on other nights but not Thursdays, while NR indicates the services to the North Ryde Industrial area. Once again, Saturday service was on the other side of the timetable, not shown here. This extension of the route 75 has continued to the present time, although with changes to the route number, becoming the 539 in 1990 and now part of the 506 to the City, no longer running to Gladesville but via the Hunter s Hill overpass. The timetable current on the 205 in early 1981 had been issued on Monday 25 June 1979 (see page 8, bottom). The route 205 now operated only in peak hours, with services from West Ryde to the Epping Highway being provided in the off-peak by the route 43. In the peak hours the 205 ran to Fontenoy and Khartoum Roads, in the North Ryde Industrial Area. A timing point at Wicks and Waterloo is shown, but it was used only twice: at 8.26 a.m. on a service only operating as far as Top Ryde, and by a school bus from North Ryde High School at 3.20 p.m. There was no Saturday or Sunday service on the route 205 in On Monday 16 November 1981, a new The Times March

6 timetable for the 205 was issued (see page 9). Off-peak hour and Saturday service has been restored, with hourly service from West Ryde and service every half hour from Top Ryde. The buses starting and terminating at Ryde ran via Fontenoy and Khartoum Roads, while the North Ryde buses skipped this timing point. We have late night shopping services, marked Th here, and last buses, marked NL, on other nights at 6.10 and 6.40 to the Monash Road depot (Z). On Thursday nights both shifts took a half-hour s crib break at West Ryde before resuming their operations to the shopping centre. The route 205 was renumbered 533 in 1990 and now has been combined with the route 459 from Burwood. The route 85 from Eastwood to Ryde via Macquarie University did not require a major diversion to include Macquarie Centre. Heading towards Ryde the bus turned left instead of right into Herring Road to reach the shopping centre and then rejoined the old route as it travelled south again down Herring Road. Where previous timetables, which were shown in the September 2001 Times, had Macquarie University as the major timing point between Eastwood and Ryde, the new timetable, also issued on Monday 16 November 1981 (see page 8, top right), has Macquarie Centre instead, and no timing point is given for the University, a mere two blocks away. Half hourly service was provided in the off-peak hours, requiring three shifts, 2, 6 and 40, for its operation. Additional services were run on Thursday nights only, shown by th, though we should note there was service to and from Eastwood on other nights, leaving the shopping centre at 7.4, 8.4 and 9.4. This short extension of the 85 has continued to the present, although the two legs of the route were separated when the North & Western bus routes were reorganised in the new order established in The Eastwood section was combined with the 54 and the 172 as the 550, from Parramatta to Chatswood, with the 545 having now replaced it as the principal service on this corridor. The Ryde section was eventually renumbered the 531, and now forms part of the 518 to and from the City. The remaining North and Western route in North Ryde, the 228 from Eastwood to Ryde via the Midway shops (also shown in the September 2001 Times), ran too far south of Macquarie centre to be easily diverted through it. Instead a new route, given the number 141 commenced on Tuesday 17 November 1981, running from Macquarie Centre to West Ryde station (see page 10). This was given the number of the old route from Ryde to Herring Road, which had been combined with the 85 in The new route was run in off-peak shopping hours only and was operated by shift 44 the highest numbered shift for North & Western at this time. It ran down Herring Road to Abuklea Road, where it turned right to follow the 228 for three blocks, then turning down Kingsford Avenue, one block before the 228 itself turned, crossing the 228 on North Road and proceeding west to turn down Pickford Avenue, where it once again ran along the same road as the 228, but now in the same direction as buses coming from Eastwood, not going towards it. The 141 continued south and ran along a short section of Blaxland Road, also used by Deane s route 89, to turn south again into the area of West Ryde covered by the old government 505, which had lost its old number and now carried 501 and 508. The 141 crossed the 501/8, but did not use any of the streets which had been the monopoly of the 505, and then crossed the railway line to West Street, following the routes of not only the 501/8, but also North and Western s routes 43 and 205 to West Ryde station. I hope this is clear from the map I have provided on page 11. The 141 ran from West Ryde every hour from 9.40 to 1.40, returning from the shopping centre at to 1.10, but with the final bus leaving Macquarie Centre at 2.33, whether to give the driver a crib break or allow the shoppers a final twenty odd minutes before they needed to be home for children returning from school. The 141 did not continue to operate until the revision of the North & Western routes in 1990, but I don t know when it ceased operation. The opening of Macquarie Centre enabled North & Western to increase its bus services in the North Ryde area, as it did other operators, the government on the 290 corridor and Deane s from various stations on the North Shore line. The bus routes extended to reach the shopping centre, 6 The Times March 2009

7 whether for a short distance like the 85 or a longer distance like the 75 and the 205 have continued to operate down to the present. The increased service on the 43 Macquarie short workings and the new route 141 were unsuccessful and ceased within a few years. Wholly new services from further away, like the 630 from Blacktown (started in January 1990) and the 635 from Dural (started in June 1995) have proved enduring, but the local routes introduced solely to service the new shopping centre have not been viable. The Times March

8 8 The Times March 2009

9 The Times March

10 10 The Times March 2009

11 The Times March

12 Now and Then - The 40th Anniversary of the closure of the Brisbane tram system by HILAIRE FRASER I n the last minutes of Sunday 13th April, 1969 Brisbane tramcar 534 entered Ipswich Rd Depot, now the site of Buranda Centro Shopping Centre, to bring to an end almost eighty-four years of tramway operation in Brisbane. Shortly before the official last car 554 had entered Milton Workshops. This article will also describe the closure of the trolleybus system. Brisbane's last trolleybus ran on Thursday 13th March, Brisbane's trams and trolleybuses were operated by Brisbane City Council. Today the Brisbane City Council is the largest operator of bus services in South-East Queensland under the Brisbane Transport banner. The Tramway System before Closure In early 1960s the tramway system was described by the major city streets through which the trams passed. The Adelaide St routes were:- 72 Chermside - Enoggera 73 Kalinga -Rainworth 74 Bardon -Stafford 75 Grange -Toowong 76 Bulimba Ferry - Ashgrove The Queen St routes were:- 06 City - Belmont 60 Ascot Doomben - Balmoral 70 Ascot Oriel Park - Balmoral 71 Clayfield - Salisbury 77 New Farm Park - West End 78 New Farm Wharf - Dutton Pk 79 City - Mt Gravatt During business hours the Belmont & Mt Gravatt services were extended to "The Valley" just over 1 km north of the CBD, once the largest and most concentrated non-cbd centre in Australia. Now the Valley contains Brisbane's Chinatown and is more of an entertainment precinct popular for nightclubbing. At other times the Mt Gravatt service terminated at Wharf St, City and the Belmont service at St Paul's Terrace. During business hours a St Paul's Terrace to South Brisbane Stn via Queen St shuttle operated, as did a Valley to Roma Street Station shuttle via Adelaide St. The tram route numbering system was unique in that all services along a particular road had the same last digit, for example at the time of closure, Gympie Rd services had route numbers 52 Kedron Bridge, 62 Lutwyche (Cemetery) and 72 Chermside and Kelvin Grove Rd services had route numbers 62 Newmarket and 72 Enoggera. Thus the through Chermside to Enoggera service was route 72, and 52 and 62 used for the appropriate short-working. City termini were denoted by the same route number, really a destination number regardless of the origin of the trip as fol- lows:- 02 Wharf St 07 St Paul's Terrace (northbound) 07 Roma Street Station (southbound) 08 South Brisbane Station 09 Valley During the early evening of Friday, 28th September, 1962 disaster struck the tramway system in that a fire destroyed Paddington Depot with the loss of 65 trams. Even with pushing the aged Dreadnought trams, normally only used during the period of the Brisbane Exhibition each year, into service and hiring 15 buses from Sydney the last trams ran on the Toowong, Rainworth, Bulimba Ferry and Kalinga services on Christmas Eve Replacement bus services were 36 Valley - Rainworth with some services extended past the Valley to Everton Park in the northwestern suburbs (now 475 Rainworth to Princess Alexandra Hospital via City), 37 Bulimba Ferry -Toowong (now 470) and 41 North Quay - Wavell Heights via Kalinga, later 92 North Quay -Zillmere via Kalinga and finally 115 City-Toombul via Kalinga (now 321). Consequently the Adelaide St routes in the late 1960s com- prised:- 72 Chermside - Enoggera 74 Bardon - Stafford 76 Grange - Ashgrove Before closure service frequencies were standardised on all routes as follows:- Monday to Friday daytime and Saturday mornings every 12 mins, Saturday afternoons every 20 mins and Sundays and evenings every 30 mins. The Doomben & Oriel Park sections of the Ascot line had double these frequencies beyond Hamilton. The exceptions to this pattern were the Saturday morning services on the Mt Gravatt line, which operated every 10 minutes, and the St Paul's Terrace-South Brisbane Station shuttle, which operated every 18 minutes. The Balmoral tram timetable accompanying this article may be examined for further information on frequencies. 12 The Times March 2009

13 Tram and bus timetables of the era were printed on heavy-duty paper 7.5cm by 14 cm when folded once. They provided only departure times from the suburban termini and the city. Tram timetables were printed in green, bus timetables in blue. The Trolleybus System before Closure The trolleybus system comprised five routes as follows:- 8A City - Seven Hills 8C City - Carina 23 Gardens - Gregory Terrace 24 Prospect Terrace - Stanley Bridge 25 City - Cavendish Rd The Gardens to Gregory Terrace route replaced trams routes from Queen St to Gardens and Queen St to Spring Hill. The Cavendish Rd route also replaced a tram service. From 10th April 1967 trolleybuses operated during daytime Mondays to Fridays, diesel buses operated at other time. At the time of closure the Seven Hills 8A & Carina 8C service frequencies were Monday to Friday daytime every 40 mins, Saturday mornings every 30 mins approximately and evenings, Saturday afternoons and Sundays every 70 mins approximately. The common sections had half these frequencies. An examination of the timetable for the Seven Hills & Carina trolleybuses accompanying this article shows 8B services operating to and from previous Carina terminus at Mayfield Rd. These were diesel bus services as the former turning circle was unwired on the occasion of the extension of the Carina route to Creek Rd on 19/6/60. In fact inward services operated via the Victoria Bridge, not possible for a trolleybus. Gregory Terrace-Gardens 23 service frequencies were Monday to Friday daytime every 8 minutes, Saturday mornings every 10 minutes and evenings, Saturday afternoons and Sundays every 24 minutes. Prospect Terrace-Stanley Bridge 24 service frequencies were Monday to Friday daytime and Monday to Saturday evenings every 30 minutes, Saturday daytime every 20 minutes and Sunday evenings every 60 minutes. Other than the Monday to Friday daytime services, diesel buses operated, but only the Prospect Terrace-Fiveways, Woolloongabba section of the route. The Woolloongabba trolleybus turning circle had been removed in Cavendish Rd 25 frequencies were Monday to Friday daytime and Saturday mornings every 17 minutes approximately, Saturday afternoons every 24 minutes and evenings and Sundays every 30 minutes approximately. To gain a better understanding of the tram and trolleybus networks please refer to the map accompanying this article from the book entitled "Brisbane Tramways - The Last Decade" by Howard R Clark and David R Keenan published in Closure of Route 76 Grange-Ashgrove. The 76 Grange-Ashgrove Tram Service ceased operation on Monday, August 5, Buses did not replace trams the next day due to a dispute over the replacement of trams by one-man operated buses leading to a strike that lasted for 23 days. The dispute was resolved when assurances were given that the tramway staff rendered surplus by the closure of the tramway system would be employed in other council departments. The last timetable issued for the Grange Tram Service, effective 3/6/68, shows route numbers 76 Grange, 66 Kedron Brook Road. Replacement bus services were 176 Grange, 206 Grange Express. The later was short-lived as the Grange bus service was not well patronised. The last The Times March

14 timetable issued for the Ashgrove Tram Service, effective 3/6/68, shows route numbers 76 Ashgrove, 66 Oleander Drive, 56 Stewarts Road. Replacement bus services were 176 Ashgrove, 156 Stewarts Road, 206 Ashgrove Express. Central termini were numbered City 103, Valley 109 as was to be the case for all tram replacement services. Thus 100 was added to twodigit tram route number for regular bus services and 200 added to the last digit of the tram route number for express services. This was the pattern for all tram replacement bus services. Route numbers 1 to 99 were used by existing bus services. The Valley to Roma Street Station shuttle via Adelaide St has already ceased about a year before. In 1971 the Grange-Ashgrove service was renumbered 126 to allow for the extension of the Ashgrove bus service over the outer end of route 17 City-The Gap, as 136 St Johns Wood, 146 The Gap- Hilder Rd, 156 Hilder Rd via St Johns Wood, 166 The Gap-Illowra St, 176 Illowra St via St Johns Wood, 186 The Gap- Loop Service, 196 Loop service via St Johns Wood. Closure of Routes 72 Chermside - Enoggera and 74 Bardon -Stafford The remaining Adelaide St tram routes closed on Sunday, December 1, The last timetable issued for the Chermside Tram Service, effective 3/6/68, shows route numbers 72 Chermside, 62 Lutwyche (Cemetery), 52 Kedron Bridge. Replacement bus services were 172 Chermside, 162 Lutwyche (Cemetery), 152 Kedron, 202 Chermside Express. The last timetable issued for the Enoggera Tram Service, effective 3/6/68, shows route numbers 72 Enoggera, 62 Newmarket. Replacement bus services were 172 Enoggera, 162 Newmarket, 152 Prospect Terrace. The last timetable issued for the Stafford Tram Service, effective 3/6/68, shows route number 74. Replacement bus services were 144 Stafford, 134 Gordon Park, 204 Stafford Express. Stafford was given route number 144 rather than 174 so as to allow for the incorporation of services from Stafford to West Stafford and West Chermside to operate to and from the City via the Stafford route. Other than a short lived 154 Stafford Loop service operating to the Chermside Hospital, now Prince Charles Hospital, these extensions did not eventuate. The last timetable issued for the Bardon Tram Service, effective 3/6/68, shows route numbers 74 Bardon, 64 Paddington, 44 Bernhard St. Replacement bus services were 144 Bardon, 204 Bardon Express. The closure of trolleybus and tram services led to the delivery of 340 Leyland Panther PSUR1/1 buses from 1968 to These buses were bodied by Athol Hedges and Denning. These vehicles remained in service until the late 1980s. The one-man operation of these buses meant that many former tram drivers and conductors had to retrain as bus drivers to have continued employment in the Brisbane City Council Transport Department. Some of the new bus drivers had not had a drivers licence prior to taking up training to drive a bus. Closure of Trolleybus Routes With virtually no publicity the last trolleybus ran on the Gardens - Gregory Terrace route on 25th October The overhead in Albert St. in front of the City Hall was removed to allow the expansion of King George Sq in front of the City Hall. Trolleybuses from the Milton Depot still operated via Edward St. downhill to commence runs to southside termini. Runs from the southside that terminated in the 14 The Times March 2009

15 city now operated to the Depot via a new turnout from Stanley St to Main St at Woolloongabba then to Milton via the Valley and Gregory Terrace. Previously these runs proceeded to the depot via Albert St. The Prospect Terrace - Stanley Bridge route closed to trolleybus operation on 29th November, It had been necessary to remove the southbound, outward wiring for the construction of an overpass at the southern approach to the Story Bridge. Trolleybuses ceased operation to Carina, Seven Hills and Cavendish Rd on 13th March, Replacement diesel bus services retained the trolleybus route numbers until 1970 when the Cavendish Rd. route was extended into territory served by the Council's 71 to 76 Mt Gravatt (East) via Greenslopes Hospital route. New route numbers were allocated the 1X3 series as 113 Mt Gravatt (Creek Rd), 123 Mt Gravatt (Dorien St), 133 Mt Gravatt (Cresthaven), 143 Mt Gravatt (Combined). Express services were 203, 213, 223 to Creek Rd, Dorien St & Cresthaven respectively. Closure of Queen St Tram Routes The Queen St tram services all closed on 13th April, The last timetable issued for the Ascot Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route numbers 70 Oriel Park, 60 Doomben. Replacement bus services were 170 Oriel Park, 160 Doomben, 150 Hamilton, 130 Breakfast Creek. The last timetable issued for the Balmoral Tram Service accompanying this article, effective 2/12/68, shows route numbers 60 & 70 Balmoral, 50 Barton Rd. Replacement bus services were 160 & 170 Balmoral, 150 Balmoral Cemetery, 200 Balmoral Express. The last timetable issued for the Clayfield Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route numbers 71 Clayfield, 61 Oriel Rd. Replacement bus service was 171 Clayfield. The last timetable issued for the Salisbury Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route numbers 71 Salisbury, 51 Moorooka. Replacement bus services were 171 Salisbury, 161 Moorvale, 131 South Brisbane (Princess Alexandra) Hospital, 201 Salisbury Express. The last timetable issued for the New Farm Park Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route number 77. Replacement bus service was 177. The last timetable issued for the West End Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route numbers 77 West End, 67 Dornoch Terrace. Replacement bus services were 177 West End, 167 Vulture St. The last timetable issued for the New Farm Wharf Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route numbers 78 New Farm Wharf, 68 New Farm Ferry. Replacement bus service was 178. The last timetable issued for the Dutton Park Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route number 78. Replacement bus services were 178 Dutton Park, 168 Bower St. The last timetable issued for the Belmont Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route number 96. Replacement bus services were 175 Belmont, 165 Camp Hill, 205 Belmont Express. In 1966 the Belmont and Mt Gravatt tram route numbers had been changed from 06 and 79 to 96 and 99 respectively to correspond with supplementary peak hour express bus services. In 1970 some Belmont bus trips were extended to Carina Depot as route 185. The last timetable issued for the Mt Gravatt Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route numbers 99 Mt Gravatt & 69 Nursery Rd. Replacement bus services were 179 Mt Gravatt, 169 Holland Pk, 209 Mt Gravatt Limited Stops & 219 Mt Gravatt Express In 1970 the Mt Gravatt bus service was extended to Garden City Shopping Centre as 169 and Tryon St, Upper Mt Gravatt as 189, covering territory previously served by the private Mt Gravatt Bus Service. Route number 179 was used for the combined Garden City/Tryon St service. Mt Gravatt (Central) 179 journeys were re-numbered 129. Initially Garden City buses showed a GARDEN CITY supplementary board (a "bumper board" in Brisbane terminology) below the front windscreen, however the shopkeepers along Logan Rd objected, claiming that this practice was giving their opposition at Garden City free publicity. As a consequence the council removed the bumper boards and buses simply displayed the general MT GRAVATT 169 destination. By the 1980s Garden City was not only the shopping centre but a major business centre and the destination GARDEN CITY appeared on all roller and electronic destinations. The last timetable issued for the St Paul's Terrace Tram Service, effective 2/12/68, shows route number 07. Replacement bus The Times March

16 services were 106 South Brisbane Station, 108 St Paul's Terrace. Later the South Brisbane Stn to St Paul's Terrace shuttle disappeared when the St Paul's Terrace service was fully incorporated with the Belmont and Mt Gravatt bus services. Bus Services Along Former Tram and Trolleybus Routes Bus route numbers were renumbered in 1998 and 1999 for the entire Brisbane Transport System to conform to what would become the Translink system for South-East Queensland including Brisbane, Ipswich, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and all areas in between. This system was a conventional system with 100 series for southern suburbs, 200 series for eastern suburbs, 300 series for northern suburbs and 400 series for western suburbs. The second digit would inside a subregion e.g. 170 series for Logan Rd and related services, whilst the third number who identify a particular route within the sub-region. Key numbers ending in 0 or 5 would often be given to Cityxpress services operating a limited stop services to regions beyond the inner area once served by trams. Some of these are BUZ (Bus Upgrade Zone) services operating at least every fifteen minutes seven days a week. Current bus timetables are available at If you were to retrace the former tram and trolleybus services you would need to travel on the bus services, listed below:- Services along Ipswich Rd which once carried Salisbury trams are now provided by bus routes:- 117 Valley - Acacia Ridge 124 Valley - Sunnybank 125 Valley - Garden City Service frequencies are:- Monday to Friday daytime every 60 mins for 117, and 124, 30 mins for 125, that is every 15 mins along the common section. Saturday and Monday to Saturday evenings every 60 mins for 124 and 125, that is 30 minutes along the common section. On Sunday evenings there is a 60 min skeleton service on 125 with the final departure from the Valley at 7.47pm. Services along Logan Rd which once carried Mt Gravatt trams are now provided by bus routes:- 174 Valley - Garden City via Newnham Rd 175 Valley - Garden City Service frequencies are:- Monday to Saturday daytime every 30 mins for 174 and 175, that is every 15 mins along the common section. Sunday and Monday to Saturday evenings every 60 mins for 174 and 175, that is 30 minutes along the common section. On Sunday evenings there is a 60 min skeleton service on 175 with the final departure from the Valley at 9.15pm. Services along the former Cavendish Rd trolleybus route are now provided by bus routes:- 184 Valley - Garden City via Upper Mt Gravatt 185 Valley - Garden City via Wishart Service frequencies are:- Monday to Saturday daytime every 60 mins for 184 and 185, that is every 30 mins along the common section. Sunday and Monday to Saturday evenings every 120 mins for 184 and 185, that is 60 minutes along the common section. On Sunday evenings there is a 120 min skeleton service on 185 with the final departure from the Valley at 8.35pm. Services along the former Dutton Park and New Farm Park services are now provided by bus routes:- 196 Fairfield Gardens - New Farm (Merthyr) 197 Fairfield Gardens - New Farm (Merthyr) via Sydney St Service frequencies are:- Monday to Friday daytime every 30 mins for 196, and 197, that is every 15 mins along the common section. Saturday and Sunday services are every 30 mins on 196 only. All evening services are every 45 mins for 196 only. On Sunday evenings the final departure is from both termini is at 9.20pm. 199 West End - New Farm (Teneriffe Ferry) operates along the former West End and New Farm Wharf tram routes. This is the busiest bus route in Brisbane. It is A BUZ (Bus Upgrade Zone) service and operates at least every 15 minutes 7 days a week including Sunday evenings. Day services Monday to Saturday operate at 10 min intervals. 204 Valley - Carindale operates along the former Belmont tram route. Service frequencies are:- Monday to Friday daytime every 15 mins, Saturday every 30 mins and Sunday and evening services are every 60 mins. On Sunday evenings the final departure is from the Valley is at 8.15pm. Services on the former Seven Hills & Carina trolleybus routes are now provided by bus routes:- 210 Valley - Cannon Hill 212 Valley - Carindale via Seven Hills Service frequencies are:- Monday to Friday daytime every 30 mins for 210, and 60 mins for 212. Saturday and Sunday services every 60 mins for 210 and 212. In the evening there is a 120 min service on 210 and 212. There are no Sunday evening departures after the 6.05pm departure from the Valley. Services on the former Balmoral tram route are now provided by bus routes:- 230 Valley-Balmoral via Riding Rd 235 Valley-Balmoral via Thynne Rd Service frequencies are:- Monday to Friday daytime every 30 mins for 230 and 235, that is every 15 mins along the common section. Saturday day services are 45 mins for both routes, that is every 22/23 minutes along the common section. Sunday day services are 90 mins for both routes, that is every 45 minutes along the common section. Monday to Saturday evenings every 60 mins for 235 only. On Sunday evenings there is a 80 min skeleton service on 235 with the final departure from the Valley at 9.05pm. 300 City - Toombul operates along the former Ascot Oriel Park tram route every 20 mins Monday to Friday, 30 mins Saturday & Sunday and every 60 mins during the evening. Last Sunday evening departure is from the City at 9.07pm. 301 City - Toombul operates along the former Ascot Doomben tram route, also incorporating former 63 Hendra route, every 30 mins Monday to Friday, 45 mins Saturday, 90 mins Sunday and every 60 mins during the evening. Last Sunday evening departure is from the City at 7.42pm. 301 also operates along the former St Paul's Terrace tram route, as does 320 City-Wavell Heights. The 320 operates 30 mins Monday to Fridays, 60 mins Monday 16 The Times March 2009

17 to Friday evenings and 80 mins Saturday and Sundays. Services on the former Salisbury tram route are now provided by bus routes:- 306 City-Toombul or Nudgee 322 City-Chermside via Wavell Hts Service frequencies are:- Monday to Friday daytime every 60 mins for 306 to Toombul, 306 to Nudgee and 322 to Chermside, that is every 20 mins to Toombul. Saturday day services are 60 mins for both Nudgee and Chermside, that is every 30 minutes to Toombul. Sunday day services are 120 mins for both Nudgee and Chermside, that is every 60 minutes to Toombul. Evening services are provided hourly to Toombul only with the last departure on Sundays at 9.25pm from the City. 321 City - Toombul operates along the former Kalinga tram route every 60 mins Monday to Saturday with no services Sundays or evenings Services along the former Prospect Terrace trolley-bus route are now provided by:- 360 City-Mitchelton via Everton Pk 361 City-Mitchelton via Gaythorne 364 City-Herston 360 & 361 combine to provide a 30 min service in the Prospect Terrace vicinity Mondays to Fridays, 360 & 364 combine to provide a 30 min service on Saturdays, whilst Sunday and evening services are every 60 minutes provided by 364, last departure from City at 7.05pm on Sunday evenings. 370 City-Chermside operates along the former tram route every 15 mins Monday to Friday, 30 mins Saturday and Sundays and every 60 in the evenings. Last Sunday evening departure from the City is at 9.08pm. 375 Bardon-Stafford operates along former operates along the former tram route every 15 mins Monday to Friday, 30 mins Saturday and Sundays and every 60 mins in the evenings. Last Sunday evening departure is from the Bardon at 9.13pm. Supplementary peak hour trips operates on 374 City to Paddington. 379 Grange-Ashgrove operates along the former tram route every 30 mins Monday to Saturday, extending from Grange to Stafford City during shopping hours, alternate trips through Grange Heights. Sunday and evening trips operate as 379 City-Grange every 60 mins, alternate Sunday trips extending to Grange Heights. Last Sunday evening departure from the City is at 8.52pm. The Ashgrove bus route is integrated with 380 The Gap via Settlement Rd, 381 The Gap via Payne Rd to give a 10 minute service Mondays to Fridays, 15 minutes on Saturdays and 30 minutes (380 & 381 only) Sundays and evenings. Last Sunday evening departure is from the City at 9.10pm. 390 City-Mitchelton operates along the former Enoggera tram route every 15 mins Monday to Friday, 30 mins Saturday and Sundays and every 60 mins in the evenings. Last Sunday evening departure from the City is at 9.10pm. 470 Toowong-Bulimba Ferry (now designated Teneriffe Ferry) operates along the former tram routes every 15 mins Monday to Friday (30 mins to Teneriffe Ferry), 30 mins Saturday and every 60 mins Sundays and evenings. Last Sunday evening departure is from Teneriffe Ferry at 7.00pm. 475 Rainworth-PA Hospital operates along the former Rainworth tram route and Stanley Bridge trolleybus route as far as Woolloongabba. 475 operates every 30 minutes Mondays to Saturdays and 60 minutes Sundays and evenings. The last Sunday evening departure is from the City to PA Hospital at 7.03pm. The Gregory Terrace trolleybus route is now served by the Spring Hill free service every 10 minutes from 8am to 6pm Mondays to Fridays. The 321 Toombul via Kalinga service also serves Gregory Terrace. The Gardens are now served by the free City Loop services operating every ten minutes 7am to 6pm Mondays to Fridays, both clockwise and anti-clockwise. The Kangaroo Point ferry, which was previously accessed from the Gardens at the city side, now commences at the Eagle St Pier also served by the City Loop bus service. The skeleton and early finishing Sunday evening bus services on many routes would indicate that many people now travel by car at this time of the week. In the 1960s a shopping trip would have involved getting dressed up and catching the tram to the city to shop at Allan & Stark's (later part of the Myer organization), McDonald & East's or David Jones City, or catching the tram to the Valley to shop at McWhirter's (later Myer) or David Jones Valley. Now you would go to one of the many huge regional shopping centres in the suburbs often built just past the limits of the former tram network. These huge regional shopping centres, which provide respite in Brisbane's summers, have taken transport services beyond the tram termini. Consequently the Salisbury, Mt Gravatt and Cavendish Rd bus services now continue to Garden City. Belmont, Seven Hills & Carina bus services continue to Carindale Shopping Centre. Ascot, Clayfield and Kalinga bus services continue to Toombul Shoppingtown The Enoggera bus service continues to Brookside Shopping Centre, Mitchelton. The Toowong bus service now continues from the western side of Toowong to the Toowong Shopping Centre above and around Toowong station. Chermside Regional Shopping Centre at the former tram terminus has been enhanced to become a major transport hub. Other bus services along former tram routes continue to district shopping centres, which contain large supermarkets, if not discount department stores such as K- Mart, Target & Big W. Consequently another branch of the Salisbury route extends to Sunnybank Shopping Centre. Another branch of the Carina bus service extends to the Cannon Hill Shopping Centre. The Dutton Park bus service now extends to Fairfield Gardens Shopping Centre. Stafford and Grange buses now extend to Stafford City Shopping Centre. In the 1960s Brisbane was starting to develop a skyline and now is a modern city with an impressive skyline and a wide range of business, retail, sporting and cultural facilities. Brisbane can no longer be called a large country town. Brisbane has long held the place of Australia's third largest city, and with a population of 1.8 million, and also with the Brisbane City Local Government Area having the fastest population growth in the country, this is likely to continue. Perth by contrast has a population of 1.5 million and Adelaide 1.1 million. With the Gold Coast having a population of 530,000, the Sunshine Coast 300,000 and Toowoomba 120km to the west with a population of nearly 100,000 South East Queensland would have a population of 3 million when rural districts are added to the large cities. Possibly if the tramway system had survived another five years, environmental concerns, the energy crisis and public opinion may have led to not only the survival of the tram system but enhancement into a modern light rail system. Imagine if Brisbane's South-East, Inner North and Central City busways and the green bridge linking Dutton Park and the University of Queensland for buses cyclists and pedestrians now carried light rail vehicles. Imagine if Queensland's busiest bus route 199 was operated by light rail vehicles perfect for the high-density areas of New Farm, South Brisbane and West End. Bibliography:- Howard R Clark & David R Keenan, Brisbane Tramways - The Last Decade, Transit Press, Sans Souci, R Deskins, P Hyde, C Struble, Slow at Frog - A Short History of the Brisbane Trolleybus System, Brisbane Tramway Museum, 2006 Peter Spence, Brisbane by Public Transport, Gregory's, St Peters NSW, The Times March

18 Unusual methods of obtaining timetable information No. 173 by Victor Isaacs W hile idly looking through the pages of the Perth West Australian newspaper for November and December 1894, I found the following advertisements, all of which throw interesting light on aspects of timetables. The first advertisement is for a Coach service from the railhead of the Eastern Railway at Southern Cross to the goldfields of Coolgardie. Although it is only a short advertisement, we learn four interesting things from it: That the Cobb & Co. name was used in WA Cobb and Co. did not in fact operate directly in WA. Rather the name was franchised to others who operated using the famous name. This was also the case in other Australian colonies, New Zealand, South Africa and even Japan. (See Times January 2006, page 3 and Times, September 2007, page 12). Indeed the second advertisement also used the Cobb s Royal Mail Coaches nomenclature on the same route, but this was operated by Jack Wilson. Mr Wilson also said he was Cobb & Co. in another advertisement of 8 November That the Coach service changed as the railhead advanced That passengers were apparently usually required to, at times walk and push the Coach, and That it is was also apparently common for passengers to have to camp out along the way. The second advertisement, from the Coolgardie Coaching Company, also promises No Camping Out. So it seems that this was a significant issue at the time. The absence of Camping Out, however, no doubt, means that the Coach kept going uncomfortably all night. A different advertisement caught my attention for a completely different reason. This advertisement solicits advertising for a forthcoming edition of the Victorian Railways Book Time Table. It is headed Advertising For The Million. The Best Advertising Medium. I find it extremely interesting that Railway Public Timetables were then such a mass medium that it was worthwhile soliciting advertising for it as far away as WA. There is however a contradiction. The advertisement stated that The New Timetable will appear in early November, but this advertisement was published on 29 November In the column next to the VR Timetable item is an advertisement summarising services on the Midland Railway of WA. There were three Mixed trains a week, and merchandise and livestock was carried at Government Railway rates. The first advertisement was reproduced in a book published in 2008 by Hesperian Press entitled Cobb and Co. in the Golden West. It was there stated that the advertisement appeared in the West Australian of 1 December 1894, but I couldn t find it on that date. However, it was while seeking to verify this date that I found the other interesting advertisements. This once again proves that timetable information pops up at unexpected places. The reproduction of these advertisements is not too good, but is the best possible. The second Coach ad is from 1 December The heading is a literary device. No-one has actually counted all the unusual methods of obtaining timetables which have been detailed in the pages of the Times over the past 25 years! Thanks to David Whiteford and Geoff Lambert for assistance with this article. 18 The Times March 2009

19 East Parramatta bus services from Ken Butt I have just read the latest issue of AATTC for September, 2008 and noted the items on page 5, re East Parramatta bus services and the history with the various bus operations and Proprietors. You never mentioned about Forest Coach Lines, who owned the Route No.3 bus service for a short time, possibly when Roger Graham was Manager, which was in the 1970 s, sorry I do not remember the exact dates and I cannot find my copy of his time-tables of the time. Perhaps members may remember the details. But my main reason for this note, was to draw your attention to a couple of mistakes on page 5, the first being on centre column, first paragraph, which states, In 1994, Harris Park sold the Route No.3 to North & Western which was incorrect, the correct history regarding these changes, were, in discussions I had with Harris Park, over some earlier time, that the loading on my Route 546 services were falling off, the locals wanted a Saturday afternoon and Sunday service, but the loading was so poor, I did not feel I should increase the service, Harris Park were saying the same thing, they later contacted me, to advise they would pull out of the area and was I interested, in taking their services over, we looked closely at what would be the effect and at a later dated, we both advised the Department of Transport of our suggestion, and to our great surprise, they agreed, and we took over the service. No Buses or Cash for the business was required. Then in column 3, half was down, it states, When the Government took over the routes of North & Western and Parramatta Ryde service (the correct name was Riverside Bus & Coach Services Ply. Limited) The Government NEVER TOOK OVER OUR SERVICES, they paid a normal A Head Master of Precision IAN JACK comes under fire from FRAZER WRIGHT A t Euston last Saturday I bought my penultimate copy of the National Rail Timetable: a heavy brick of a book, 2,832 pages, more than 250 tables detailing the trains on every line from Penzance to Thurso, price 12. It covers the period June to December, in which month Network Rail will publish the last edition of a work of reference that, in one form or other and with a gap in the 1960s, has been part of British life since the early years of Queen Victoria. Network Rail says it will be replaced "by an internet and telephone-based inquiry service", which will be no replacement at all to anyone who thinks of railway timetables as rather more than a way of establishing how to get somewhere, and when. "The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited," says Sherlock Holmes in The Valley of Fear, but there are those who forgive that in a timetable and instead see in its pages so much for the imagination to work on, so many ways of escape on so many trains to so many places still unseen: Maghill, Meols Cop, Mistley, Morfa Mawddach, Muir of Ord, to name just a few of the stations beginning with M. I was travelling to Manchester. This was fitting. Many new ideas once came out of Manchester and among them was the timetable. There in 1841 George Bradshaw, a Quaker printer and engraver, published the first volume of Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide. Advertising the departure and arrival of trains, and before them, mail coaches, wasn't new: coach companies had "time bills", and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway announced its "scheme of departures" in the local press. Bradshaw's achievement was to collate the timings of trains run by different companies - by 1841 there were almost a thousand route miles of railway - and express them cogently and clearly in a grid system, destinations vertically and times horizontally, so they looked scientific, like logarithms or the tide tables (the probable origin of the new phrase, timetable) that had been used by British harbour-masters since the 16th century. Bradshaw had a good visual sense - he also engraved maps of railways and canals - and his timetables were masterpieces of concision. As Britain's railways grew in length and complexity - 6,000 miles in 1850, 20,000 miles in Bradshaw became the word for timetable, an everyday item named after its inventor like Hoover or Macintosh. He died of Asiatic cholera in Christiana (now Oslo) in 1853, and you might argue, in a hoist-by-own-petard way, that it was his own invention that put him in the way of the disease, by supplying him with such reliable advice on how best to take a holiday in Norway. Six years earlier he'd published the first volume of his monthly Continental Railway Guide, Letter Commercial price for our Bus businesses, then on an agreed date 13/12/1999 for North & Western Coaches Pty.Limited and on 28/2/2000 for Riverside Bus & Coach Services Pty.Limited, the State Transit Authority commenced ownership and operated our former bus services. I felt that these matter should be straightened out, for in a another publication, which notes the private bus history, so many mistakes were continually recorded, from February, 2000 until a new Editor took over a couple of years ago and completely revised the magazine and fortunately, for history sake, correct detail is now being recorded, about the great private bus industry. Kind regards. Yours faithfully. Ken Butt. JP.,FCIT. Former Managing Director of North & Western Coaches Pty.Limited and Director of Riverside Bus & Coach Services Pty.Limited. the one Phileas Fogg is holding under his arm as he sets out on his 80-day journey around the world. Punch magazine wrote of Bradshaw in 1865 that "seldom has the gigantic intellect of man been employed upon a work of greater utility", and how true that must have seemed to Richard Hannay in The Thirty-Nine Steps 50 years later when, trying to puzzle out a way of fleeing the scene of the murder in the first few pages, he records: "A search in Bradshaw informed me that a train left St Pancras at 7.10, which would land me at any Galloway station in the late afternoon." Bradshaw had rivals. In Scotland, Murray's Timetable persisted from 1843 to 1966, eventually a small and slender booklet with a pink cover which (as I faintly remember) men of a fob-watch generation would pull from their inside pockets to consult, and then to say, "Oh, Jean, hold fast with the fruit cake, we'll need to take the 8.45 if we're to catch the last connection at Paisley." In London, the ABC Railway Guide appeared in 1853 (and continues under different initials - the OAG Rail Guide, for some reason) and supplied Agatha Christie with the many false trails in The ABC Murders. But neither could be called national. The ABC was good at telling you how to get from London to Hull or Huddersfield but hopeless about the trains from Huddersfield to Hull. Bradshaw alone treated everywhere equally, The Times March

20 and after it ceased publication in 1961 the traveller had to do without a comprehensive national timetable until 1974, when British Rail began the version that will survive until next year. I don't know why I like timetables so much. On the shelves behind me there are several editions of Newman's Indian Bradshaw (established 1866, and still published by W Newman of Calcutta); a fine blue-covered Scottish Regional for 1965 ("Table d'hôte" dinner on the Mid-day Scot, 14s 6d); several of the Pozzorario Generale per Tutta Italia from the 1970s (their buff covers burnished with adverts for small hotels tutti i comfort and near the station); and a David and Charles reprint of the Bradshaw for April 1910, which may be to timetable enthusiasts what the ninth edition of the Britannica is to encyclopediaphiles - a timetable at the peak of its achievement, its place names and times delineating what the introduction describes as Britain's railways "in the complacent maturity of their power". A respectable case can be made for their academic study. The late professor Jack Simmons, for example, compared the Sunday services of suburban trains in Dublin (very many) and Belfast (none at all) and concluded that in 1914 the Catholic and Protestant communities had "wholly different attitudes to Sunday recreation" (an unremarkable conclusion, but good to have it supported by the infallible facts of Bradshaw). On the Manchester train, passing names (Willesden, Watford, Wolverton) that must have appeared in Bradshaw's first edition, because this was the first main line in the world, opened in 1838, I decided I couldn't claim that years of timetable perusing had taught me much useful general history. What then? It has fed a kind of abstract curiosity. You can set yourself puzzles. It's said that a headmaster of Repton was fond of a punishment in which he'd hand a boy Bradshaw and ask him to find a way of travelling between Great Yarmouth and Exeter without going via London. Now, as we passed the old Ovaltine farm at Kings Langley, I set myself one. Is it possible to reach Plymouth from Perth without touching Edinburgh, Glasgow or London? The answer - yes, but not easily - came soon after Milton Keynes Central. Ian Jack is the editor of Granta This article, in The Guardian (aka the Grauniad on account of its frequent sloppiness) prompted Frazer Wright to write to The Times with the following query: I hope you will excuse a brief note/appeal from a non-member in the UK. Last weekend in the Guardian, writer Ian Jack again trotted out his story about a headmaster of Repton school who, as a punishment, would hand a boy Bradshaw and ask him to find a way of travelling between Great Yarmouth and Exeter without going via London Usually Jack hedges this story - he uses it regularly - with words like "It's said that a headmaster.." Sloppy journalism. Can anyone lay to rest this story about Bradshaws and competitions? Often involving Bishops teasing each other? Sometimes set in country houses with guests snowed-in. Surely it would take a near timetable genius to mark such challenges or competitions, given the footnotes and strange little hand symbols that are scattered throughout the best Bradshaws (1910?) Ideas, thoughts - and suitable challenges welcome! Your Editor thought that the answer would be a pushover Google would tell me!. Unfortunately, no. Google led me into the arcane depths of ecclesiastical history, where one might find the following, about Bishop William Ridding (left), one of the Bishops alluded to: When the subject of his building at Southwell was brought forward at the first Diocesan Conference, the Bishop, in suggesting the study of Bradshaw, asked : Is there any practical man who works or sends agents along these railway lines, who has evening work, who would pitch on Southwell and say, " That's the centre for me. There people can get to me at all hours and from all places, and get away again at once. That is the place for a central seat of management "?' This wasn t much help. but still. Google did bring forth the following quote in a web biography of Bradshaw: No more will Holmes cry 'the games afoot' and head for the South coast; or Archbishop William Temple, headmaster of Repton set the task of finding the best way from Great Yarmouth to Exeter without passing through London as an imposition for an erring schoolboy. They might, had they a Bradshaw to hand. John Barber - originally published in Lancashire Magazine November/ December 1998, William Temple (below), it should be noted, went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest church officer in the Kingdom. But that doesn t mean the stories about him are true. In the meantime Frazer Wright was burrowing away and sent me this missive, detailing more sloppiness from the past. Who can point out where this journalist s fault lies?: In my continuing (if occasional and sporadic) research into Bradshaw and the Bishops, I came across the following snippet today, which may be of use as a filler in your magazine Curiosities of Railway Literature. Has Bradshaw had any reviewers? If not, an example or two from this neighbourhood, of the absurdities which reappear month after month in the time-tables, may show the necessity of them. A Midland train proposes to leave Gloucester at p.m., and reach Cheltenham at 1 p.m. The Great Western Company advertise an express train, on the very same line, to leave two minutes later and arrive five minutes earlier. It is therefore obvious, that if these trains were to keep their proper time, the express must run into the slow coach in front. The Great Western Railway Company have also, in a very unassuming manner, been advertising a feat hitherto unparalleled in the annals of railway speed, thee mail from Cheltenham at 8.20 a.m. to leave Gloucester at 8.27; that is to say, seven miles, including starting, slackening speed at two or three crossings stopping, starting again, all in seven minutes! Let the narrow gauge beat this if it can. 20 The Times March 2009